Obama win could be end of conservative Supreme Court

(Forbes) The decades-long campaign by conservatives to build a lasting majority on the U.S. Supreme Court may come to an end over the next four years, now that President Obama has been reelected to the White House.

While it is possible all five of the conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices will try to hold onto their seats until the end of the Obama presidency, death and the siren call of a well-funded pension plan may pull one or more of them off of the bench. That would give Obama the opportunity to swap in a left-leaning justice who could prevent Chief Justice John Roberts from obtaining a majority in the cases that divide conservatives and liberals — abortion, affirmative action and employee and property rights.

The justice who is most likely to leave the court during the second Obama presidency is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal who at age 79 is birdlike and frail, but hardly slacking off from her prodigious work habits. More worrisome to conservatives is Justice Antonin Scalia, tied with Justice Clarence Thomas as the most conservative judge on the high court (and a self-described “best buddy” with Ginsburg) who at 76 has discussed retirement recently with various reporters.